A board of activist Shaun King led police to a suspect in the assassination of Jazmine Barnes



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The arrest of Eric Black Jr. – who said he was driving the vehicle used during the shooting – came after a message received by King and sent to sheriff Ed Gonzalez of Harris County, sheriff said Sunday.

"He became a target in our investigation after being informed that journalist and activist Shaun King had been informed," Gonzalez told reporters. "Mr King then forwarded this tip personally."

Two days after Jazmine's death, King turned to his legion of Twitter followers to get their help to find his killer and offered a $ 25,000 reward for information. S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Jazmine's family, also joined the cause. The reward finally reached $ 100,000.

On Wednesday night, King had tweeted on hundreds of tips. "Mostly garbage," he says. "All well-intentioned 3-4 helpful Working with family and local authorities Some promising leads, but not enough."

Gonzalez said Sunday that one of King's advice "provides a very different angle from what we were initially considering," hinting at the fact that authorities initially indicated that the suspect was a white man of about forty years driving a red pickup truck. Black is a 20-year-old African American. The white man in the red truck was probably a mere witness, the sheriff told the press.

Black was intercepted for not using his flashing light and was later arrested for possession of marijuana, according to an affidavit read in court. The investigators identified Black as one of two suspects involved in the shootings, according to an anonymous informant.

He was arrested and should be formally charged with murder on Monday. Authorities did not reveal any information about the alleged gunman. Black allegedly opened fire from the passenger seat.

  A snapshot of Eric Black Jr. was published by the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

"I would like to thank once again Shaun King for his activism, his help and his awareness, as well as for the money that has been put in. 39 before to be able to generate these calls, "said Gonzalez.

It is thought that shooting is a case of mistaken identity.

It was still dark the morning of the shooting, underlined Gonzalez. Jazmine's mother and sisters had just had a traumatic experience that could have affected their perception of these devastating moments.

King said Sunday morning on Twitter that he was sharing this information with Gonzalez's office on Thursday. He also stated that the white man in the red truck described by eyewitnesses was not the shooter and probably feared for his life.

King and Merritt, the civil rights lawyer, have been friends since their meeting about 20 years ago at Morehouse College, a historically black school in Atlanta. They have worked together on several cases over the years, including the murder of Antwon Rose II, a black teenager killed by police near Pittsburgh in June.

Merritt also told CNN that King and King had helped the authorities identify suspects who had attacked a black man, DeAndre Harris, at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

Darran Simon of CNN participated in the event this report.

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